Competition monitoring

In light of changing market conditions and the accompanying deregulation (as seen in the reduction of specific obligations imposed on Telekom Austria TA AG on the market for wholesale broadband access, or in the European Commission's markets recommendation of December 17, 2007, which now defines 7 instead of 18 markets relevant to sector-specific regulation), the regulatory authority has decided to monitor market developments more closely in the future.

First of all, this will be accomplished by means of systematic and individual monitoring in order to verify the extent to which companies identified as having significant market power in market analysis procedures under Art. 37 TKG 2003 adhere to the specific obligations imposed on them. Under Art. 90 TKG 2003, communications network operators and service providers are required to provide the regulatory authority with all information required for the purpose of enforcing the TKG 2003. In particular, this includes the information required for systematic or individual reviews of adherence to obligations, regardless of whether a complaint has been received or the regulatory authority suspects a violation of obligations for other reasons; thus RTR can conduct investigations on its own behalf.

Second, RTR has set up a uniform point of contact to which competition-related violations (e.g., violations of specific imposed obligations) can – and should – be reported. Interested parties can contact RTR at the e-mail address wettbewerbsmonitor@rtr.at in order to report potential competition-related violations and provide any relevant documentation on such violations. The regulatory authority will make every effort to ascertain and evaluate the facts in each case as quickly as possible and to remedy competition-related violations within the scope of its abilities. In order to achieve this goal, RTR actively solicits the cooperation of market participants, consumers and other interested parties.